Based on real
events in 1990, Indian Summer: the Oka Crisis tells in fictional
form the story of how a minor protest by Mohawk Indians, to
protect their three centuries old cemetery from a golf course
expansion, leads to the largest deployment of Canadian troops
since the Korean War.

Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis
is fiction based on headline news events that took place in the
summer of 1990 in the town of Oka, near Montreal (Quebec),
Canada. The actual events drew global attention placing Native
rights issues centre-stage.

In the largest
deployment of Canadian troops since the Korean War, Canadian
troops move into the town of Oka to dismantle blockades by
Mohawk Indians who are protesting against the town’s plans to
build on Mohawk sacred land. The land in question consists of a
pine forest and an ancient burial ground on which the town plans
to expand an existing golf course and to pave a parking lot.

The protestors
block a dirt road leading to the cemetery. The police attack and
try to remove the protestors by force in a fiasco of a raid and,
tragically, an officer is killed. In retaliation for the police
raid, more Mohawks join the protest and block a major bridge.
Left stranded, angry commuters start rioting. The minor protest
erupts into a major crisis and a national stage for Indian
rights everywhere in the country.

Mounting
pressure and failed attempts to find a resolution moves the
government to call in the army, which dismantles the blockades.
The protesting Mohawks are arrested, reminiscent of their
ancestors’ struggles and losses.

The
Mohawks win the battle against Oka town’s plans to build on
sacred land. However, the centuries’ old war of land ownership
remains unresolved.